Talmud and Halakhah

Amitai Bin-Nun provides a fresh and intriguing perspective on the story of the Golden Calf by reading it in light of the Talmudic passage in Menahot detailing an encounter between Moses and R. Akiba on Mt. Sinai where God is tying crowns to the letters of the Torah scroll.

Aryeh Klapper analyzes Rav Shaul Yisraeli’s classic work on civilian casualties in Halakhah.

David Fried explores the humra of pat Yisrael during the aseret yemei teshuvah.

Rebecca Cypess considers the life and work of the Italian Jewish Renaissance composer Salamone Rossi, his rabbinic supporter Leon Modena, and the controversies over 17th century polyphonic music in the synagogue.

Moshe Kurtz explores several halakhic questions concerning the recitation of kaddish for the deceased, all of which point to a larger discussion about how one can confer merit on someone else.

Yaakov Taubes explores the background to Maimonides’s explanation for how the Mishnah is ordered.

Natan Oliff explores the evolving role of truth throughout Tanakh and later Jewish history.

Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman examine the halakhic permissibility of vaccine mandates by governments and employers.

Chaim Trachtman explores the relationship between moral instincts and rational thinking in Rabbinic Psychology.

Chaim Saiman analyzes how the Torah's two introductions to the revelation at Sinai correspond to two perspectives on the nature of halakhic civil law.